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Sonderling Discusses the August Jobs Report, Manufacturing Growth and Tariffs on C-SPAN's Washington Journal

September 14, 2026 · USDepartmentofLabor · 0:09:38

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What happened

Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Labor Day to discuss the August jobs report, in the interview the Labor Department uploaded. Sonderling said the report, released the previous Friday, showed 162,000 jobs added against expectations of roughly 55,000, and that the economy had passed one million new private-sector jobs in President Trump’s second term, as he stated the figures; the program noted the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent, as stated in the interview.

Breaking down the report, Sonderling said 100,000 new construction jobs were tied to building manufacturing plants and that 58,000 manufacturing jobs had been created this year alone, reversing years of decline, with a manufacturing productivity index up eight straight months, as he stated the figures. He attributed the growth to trillions of dollars of investment commitments in the United States and said the Labor Department’s task was to ensure American workers have the skills for the new high-wage manufacturing jobs being created.

Asked about benchmark revisions that lowered earlier private-sector job counts for the year through March, Sonderling said the administration had promised transparency and methodology reform at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contrasted this year’s revision with what he stated were negative revisions of 890,000 jobs over two years under the Biden administration, and said revisions are now much smaller. On tariffs, he cited a Whirlpool plant in Ohio making more dryers and washers and a small Arizona maker of nuts and bolts producing more domestically, and argued tariffs are bringing supply chains and production home, as he presented the examples. He also said the President had been clear the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates and expressed confidence in Chair Kevin Warsh, as he stated his view.

Why it matters

The Labor Day interview is the administration’s labor-market case in one sitting — a beat-expectations August report, a manufacturing-first breakdown, a defense of the BLS revision process, and tariffs credited for specific plant-level production shifts — each element stated by the acting secretary on the record.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the August figures as Sonderling stated them on C-SPAN — 162,000 jobs added, unemployment at 4.1 percent, and 58,000 manufacturing jobs created in the year to date — flagged for the scoreboard editor to check against the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases; no verdict is entered here.

Sources: USDepartmentofLabor, “Secretary Keith Sonderling talks with C-SPAN about the August jobs report”, 2026-09-14 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-09-14). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.